


To Build a Home

by royalchttphn



Series: Inktober 2019 Prompts - Reddie [5]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Jumps in Time, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-25 15:24:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20914307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/royalchttphn/pseuds/royalchttphn
Summary: When Richie would open the door for guests and say, “It’s not much,” he would be right.Inktober 2019 Day 5: Build





	To Build a Home

**Author's Note:**

> so i actually kind of like this one :D

The day Eddie arrives to move into Richie’s LA apartment, Richie swings the door open and and says, “Sorry, it’s not much.”

The apartment is spacious, according to what Richie’s told him - a nice kitchen, two bathrooms, a living room, an office, and a master and guest bedroom. But it seems devoid of anything that makes it personal. No pictures, no knicknacks, no trinkets that Eddie could see from where he stands in the hallway. So for all intents and purposes, Richie’s right - it’s not much.

Eddie doesn’t say that, though. Instead he opts to scoff and say, “Not much? Rich, this place is gigantic - you’re really showing off your big salary.”

Richie doesn’t exactly laugh like Eddie had hoped he would. Instead he forces one out after a belated second and then shrugs. He doesn’t even make the obvious “that’s not the only big thing about me” joke Eddie knew he walked himself into. Eddie realizes he may have hit a nerve when he sees Richie’s eyes flit around his head avoiding eye contact, but he doesn’t say anything about that, either.

After a moment of awkwardly standing in the hallway together, Richie shakes off whatever it is he’s thinking about, plasters a smile on his face and proceeds to give Eddie a grand tour. He shows Eddie the rooms he had talked vaguely about in the hospital and over the phone - all as devoid of personality as Richie is full of it. The last room he shows, sweeping the door open in a grand gesture, is the guest room.

“Although, I guess it’s now your room,” Richie amends. “Feel free to… do whatever with it, really.”

Eddie steps past Richie into the room and eyes it, searching for any faults, and his scan comes up satisfactory. The bed is made, the floor is clean, the desk and dresser both devoid of dust.

“Is the room to your satisfaction?” Richie asks, almost as if reading his mind.

With how much time Richie and Eddie have spent with each other over the past couple of months - in person and over facetime - Eddie wouldn’t be surprised if Richie really had read his mind.

“Surprisingly, yes.”

Richie barks a laugh. “I’m glad.”

Eddie turns to face Richie. Richie, who had been watching him anxiously and fondly, if possible, at the same time. Eddie lets his own features soften. “Thank you, Richie. Really.”

Richie smiles back. “Anything for you, Eds.”

“Don’t call me that, dipshit.” But Eddie knows he means it.

*****

One month into sleeping at Richie’s, Eddie has his first real nightmare. Before, they had been small, scary enough to wake him but not so much that he would scream or cry out. This time, he thrashes around in bed and he does scream and cry out and finally he bolts upright in bed, sweaty and disoriented, to see a figure silhouetted in his doorway.

He stares, chest heaving, until the figure begins to look less like some evil entity and more like

“Richie?” he gasps.

“Hey, buddy,” Richie whispers from the doorway, and it’s a wonder Eddie can hear him over the pounding of his heart. “Are you alright?”

Eddie knows the answer is obvious - no, he’s decidedly _not_ alright - but he also knows Richie isn’t really asking that.

“Come sit?” Eddie invites, and even though he knows he doesn’t have to say it, even though Richie is already halfway across the room, he adds, “Please?”

Richie skips all pretense of asking whether or not he can touch Eddie and gets straight to pulling Eddie in for a hug. Eddie is hyper aware of all of the places where he and Richie meet (Richie’s hands on his back and neck, chests pressed together, Eddie’s face hidden in the crook of Richie’s neck), but for once he shuts down every single feeling the contact brings him except for one: security.

Eddie always felt his best around Richie. Secure. Happy. Normal.

“It’s okay, Eds. That motherfucker can’t get you. And if he tried I’d rip his fucking claws off.”

Eddie laughs out of nerves and doesn’t even wonder over the fact that Richie knew exactly what his nightmare was about.

Eddie ends up falling asleep again that night, this time tucked away in Richie’s embrace.

The next night and every night after he doesn’t even bother going to his own room to sleep.

He sleeps better than he has since Mike called him three months ago.

*****  
Two months into living with Richie, Eddie comes home to see Richie sitting anxiously on the couch. As soon as Eddie lets the door click behind him, Richie is up from where he was sitting, looking at him expectantly.

Eddie lets him wonder for a brief moment, walking into the kitchen and setting his bags down on the counter before a wide grin splits his face and he proclaims, “It’s finalized. The divorce is finalized.”

Richie lets out a whoop and rushes to crush Eddie in a hug, his long arms wrapped so tightly around Eddie’s back he can barely breathe. “Fucking finally,” Richie breathes into Eddie’s hair, and Eddie could swear he feels a kiss being pressed against his scalp, but the touch is so light he can hardly tell. He chooses not to comment on it, but a warmth spreads through his body all the same.

“And I brought Chinese to celebrate.”

This time, the kiss in unmistakable because it’s pressed to his lips, bruising and filled with glee and utterly Richie and then it’s gone and replaced with Richie looking horrified with himself.

“Shit-- sorry, Eds, I didn’t mean to do that! I’m just so fucking _happy_ for what feels like the first time in forever - not that that’s any excuse-- holy shit, I’m--”__

_ _“Shut up, you literal idiot. You’re acting like I haven’t been waiting for this for my entire life,” Eddie interrupts, warmth pouring out of him, and pulls Richie in to kiss him again._ _

_ _*****_ _

_ _One year into dating Richie, Richie starts acting odd - fidgety, like he’s been off his ADHD meds._ _

_ _It should worry Eddie, and under normal circumstances it would _worry_ him, but Ben doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut when he’s drunk and Eddie knows that Richie’s just nervous about proposing._ _

_ _It’s not like they haven’t been practically married since they met, and it’s not like Eddie’s not utterly in love with Richie and has been ever since he could remember. So it’s a good thing Richie’s planning to do it soon, because Eddie’s been getting impatient._ _

_ _When Richie asks, it actually comes as a surprise to Eddie despite how much time he’s spent speculating over how and when and where._ _

_ _Eddie, knowing Richie’s love for theatrics, thought he would have made the proposal some grand spectacle with cake and wine and friends._ _

_ _Richie, knowing Eddie, knew that would make him nervous, and so proposes to him as if it were the most natural thing in the world - over takeout and bickering, just the two of them in the living room of their apartment._ _

_ _Eddie, of course, says yes, and rubbed it in Richie’s face that he knew all along._ _

_ _*****_ _

_ _Three months into being Richie’s fiance, Eddie Kaspbrak sheds the last remnants of his mother and becomes Eddie Tozier. The reception is small but the room is filled to bursting with love._ _

_ _One months into being Richie’s husband, he and Eddie adopt a dog. He is small and scruffy and has a perpetual look of judgement on his face and is affectionately named Stanley._ _

_ _A year later, they adopt a four-year-old named Lucy. She has dark skin and curly hair and pudgy fingers and curious eyes and she and Stanley take to each other almost immediately, one half of the pair rarely seen without the other._ _

_ _*****_ _

_ _If one were to peek into the Tozier household, one would see neat rows of family pictures hanging in the hallway. They would see colorful plastic bowls and sparkling wine glasses in the cabinets in the kitchen. They would see a little girl’s room bursting with color and toys and a dog bed. They would see trophies and trinkets and even more pictures in the living room, and maybe a little girl and her dog curled around one another on the couch. And in the bedroom, they would see two men who have loved each other through time - _despite_ time._ _

_ _When Richie would open the door for guests and say, “It’s not much,” he would be right._ _

_ _It’s not _much_._ _

_ _It’s everything._ _

_ _It’s home._ _

**Author's Note:**

> if anyone cares, Lucy will be back


End file.
